The demand for a variety of fresh food at Colorado consumers’ fingertips is the highest it has ever been — and that will continue to grow. (Denver Post file photo)

By Jerry Sonnenberg and John SalazarGuest Commentary

There are more than 36,000 farms in the state encompassing some 31 million acres. Agriculture continues to be a driving economic force, providing 170,000 jobs and contributing more than $40 billion to the state’s economy annually.

Over the years, Colorado producers have diversified to grow grapes, sunflowers, oats, mushrooms, fish, bison, ostrich, emu and more to fill the wants and needs of consumers, yet the more traditional commodities such as cattle, corn, dairy products, wheat and hay continue to lead product sales.

When thinking about the goods or services that Colorado exports to other countries, agricultural products may not be the first thing that crosses your mind. Think again.

Agricultural exports have become increasingly important to our state’s economy, with high-quality, locally grown products sold from our farmers and ranchers to worldwide markets that are rich with opportunity. And these exports are growing rapidly, doubling since 2009 to $2.1 billion. I am excited about the continued growth of Colorado’s agricultural exports to international markets which contributes to Colorado’s economic vitality and enhances opportunity for all Coloradans.

From Canada to Mexico, to Japan and China, and all the way to Korea and Russia, products from Colorado’s farms and ranches are finding their way to these and other international destinations. Top agricultural exports include beef, hides, dairy, dry beans and wheat. Read more…

It was good to see John Matsushima, a true Colorado product, will receive the prestigious Citizen of the West award.

Matsushima, who grew up on family farms in Colorado, is a pioneering animal science researcher, an author and is a professor emeritus at Colorado State University.

Among his notable achievements was developing a steam processing technique for cattle feed grains that reduced the cost of beef production.

Pat Grant, former President of the National Western Stock Show, said Matsushima is well-known in the world of cattle and beef production.

“Johnny has overseen world renowned research into cattle feeding; this has led to his being a big influence on the quality, taste and tenderness of our best beef,” Grant said in a prepared statement. “He has helped to open doors to export of our beef to many foreign nations. I do not know of anybody world-wide who has done more to improve beef than Johnny.”

The National Western Stock Show has given the award every year since 1978. Other recipients include Hank Brown (2008), Justice Byron White (2000), Daniel L. Ritchie (1998) and Dick Cheney (1993).

A report by Stanford University scientists that found little advantage for organic food over conventional products – reported here by The New York Times – is creating quite a stir, but you have to wonder why.

Studies for years have indicated that the touted advantages of organic fruits, vegetables and meat were often mythical – and especially the claims involving nutrients and safety.

As I wrote in The Denver Post three years ago,
“If some folks want to pay a premium for organic products, so be it. … Organic farming no doubt can be better for the land in many locales – and reducing pesticide use is a laudable goal – but its lower yields are woefully unsuited to meet the world’s needs.

“Nor is organic food necessarily safer to eat. As The New York Times explained in March, ‘An organic certification technically has nothing to do with food safety.’

“Nutrition? ‘On the basis of a systematic review of studies … there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs,’ researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine concluded recently in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“When I contacted Professor Dawn Thilmany of Colorado State University’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, she told me a similar story. The evidence is ‘inconclusive in terms of nutritional values,’ she said, adding only that vitamin C might be enhanced by organic farming and antioxidant levels perhaps improved.”

Some critics of the Stanford study are claiming that advocates for organics are vindicated because it confirmed that conventional fruits and vegetables had more pesticide residue, but that’s only relevant if current safety standards for pesticide residues are way too high. Meanwhile, the idea that fans of organics have never based their preference partly on nutrition, as some are claiming in the wake of the Stanford findings, is preposterous.

Back in January, Time magazine asked the headline question, “Should Undercover Video Be Banned at Livestock Farms?” If you want to know why the answer is an emphatic “No!” just take a look at this video released this week by the Humane Society of the United States taken at a hog farm in Wyoming. Disgusting. In fact, it’s enough to make you reassess your consumption of pork (I’m not a vegetarian, so this is not a sermon).

At the very least it ought to help propel you into the ranks of those committed to demanding that agribusiness phase out gestation crates and in general provide hogs with more space. For starters, how about enough space so they can at least turn around?

Ominously, Iowa in March became the first state to outlaw filming video inside factory farms. A straightforward ban might run into First Amendment obstacles – you’d certainly hope it would – so Iowa lawmakers simply made it a serious crime to lie on a job application to achieve the same intimidating effect.

Not coincidentally, Iowa is the nation’s top pork and egg producer, too. Whistleblowers, beware. With Ag Gag laws, animal cruelty is effectively state-sanctioned.

During the recent Denver mayoral race, I was quite skeptical of eventual winner Michael Hancock‘s claim that “promoting localized food
production and distribution networks will create thousands of new
jobs for Denver citizens.” Local agricultural self-sufficiency may be an admirable thing, but only if you aspire to return to the 18th century and to a much less interesting diet.

Yet such is the prestige of the “locavore” movement, which promotes consumption of food from local farms, that opponent Chris Romer never took on Hancock’s dubious claims. If he’d tried, it probably would have backfired on him. These days, you can spout almost any nonsense on behalf of “sustainable” local farming and get away with it.

Consider an oped in Monday’s New York Times by Patricia McArdle, a former State Department adviser in Afghanistan. While she has a number of interesting criticisms of U.S. development policy in that nation, she begins her piece with a stunningly obtuse portrayal of a dirt-poor agricultural economy.

Vincent Carroll is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. He has been writing commentary on politics and public policy in Colorado since 1982 and was originally with the Rocky Mountain News, where he was also editor of the editorial pages until that newspaper gave up the ghost in 2009.

Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 150 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address, day and evening phone numbers, and may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.

To reach the Denver Post editorial page by phone: 303-954-1331

Posts by Category

Posts by Category

Idea Log Archives

Idea Log Archives

About The Idea Log

The idea log The Denver Post editorial board shares commentary and opinion on issues of interest to Coloradans.